More Than Enough
by LunaLoki
Summary: Roland Crane and Mary Davis ran in the same circles for a brief time. Mary was high and drunk when she got pregnant with her second daughter and never bothered to find out who the father was. But a chance encounter between Roland and Carlotta make Alex suspicious that Mary and her dad were more than just friends, leading Simone to discover she actually has two big sisters.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi All, this has been bouncing around in my head for a little while and I've always thought Alex and Simone had an interesting dynamic.**

 **Set in season one and definitely pulls from some of the plots but not necessarily in order.**

 **I don't own any characters or quotes from Star. Let me know what you think and if you'd like to see this continued.**

* * *

 ** _It's not for the money_**

Alex sat on the back stoop of the salon, there was something about the way her father looked at Carlotta when he entered the small shop that made her feel sick to her stomach. For a brief second, her father paused, and Roland Crane never paused. Alex heard the patio door clang behind her and a curly blonde haired young woman sat down beside her, "You good?" Star asked, she didn't look at the other girl sitting to her right.

Alex took a deep breath, Star had already given her shit for lying to them and she wasn't exactly looking to relive that, "Yeah."

"Good," Star replied, "cause we gotta job to do" she told Alex before standing and heading inside. Alex let out the breath she had been holding, thinking to herself that she should be more upset about her parents had busted in, spilling her truths without he even having to open her mouth, but all she could think about was the strange look in his eyes. She sighed to herself with the harsh realization that she had to begin rebuilding everyone's trust and it wasn't going to be easy.

Alex sighed as she pushed herself to her feet and slowly followed Star back into the salon and up to the room they shared. She sank down onto the dingy bed that was so different than the one she grew up with, and yet somehow this bed seemed warmer. She leaned across the bed to pull her laptop towards her, purposefully ignoring the side eye from Star who was sitting lining her lips in the mirror. Dressed in lace panties and a black bra with an oversized sweater hanging over her petite frame, Star's blonde curls were tied back into a loose bun that fell out in all the right places. Star pursed her lips before turning to Alex raising her eyebrows as if to indicate that Alex should stop staring. "What?" Star asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice as she popped her hip out in impatience waiting for an answer.

"Nothing," Alex shook her head and looked away from Star. The girl was her polar opposite in every way, which often caused Alex to question how she got here in the first place, but she didn't really wonder, Star had believed in her when no one else had and somehow, this place, these people, felt more like a family than the one she had grown up with.

"You got your head on straight?" Star asked eyeing her up. Star wasn't one to worry, but Alex was acting weird, and she needed her at her prime and no less, "I ain't gonna ask again."

Alex looked back and nodded, "I said I'm good," she replied, the lie tasted like poison on her lips, but she swallowed it down.

Star kept her eyes on Alex a beat longer than normal, "Cool." She replied, turning away to pull on some baggy white joggers with a black strip down the side. "Gonna find our next gig, wanna tag along?"

"I -" paused thinking of an excuse that Star would accept, "gotta work on this song, I'll catch up with you later." Alex replied slowly as she watched Star shrug before disappearing down the stairs. Alex sighed as she closed her laptop, not convinced Star believed her, but there was something she had to do.

* * *

Carlotta tossed some towels into the dryer when Alex appeared in the doorway. "Hey," Carlotta greeted without looking up from what she was doing.

Alex swallowed the lump in her throat, she hated small talk and figured she might as well get right to the point, "Do you know my dad?"

Carlotta didn't look up, "Of course I know him, don't everyone?"

Alex knocked her fist gently against the wall, "You know what I mean."

Carlotta exhaled and looked at Alex, giving her a once over, she sighed, "Yeah I knew him, but that was a long time ago."

"How long ago?" Alex asked calmly, but there was no mistaking the dangerous glint in her eye.

Carlotta grimaced, "I dunno, 15, 16 years ago?"

Alex nodded, looking frustrated, "He know Mary?"

"They ran in the same circles for a bit." Carlotta replied slowly, not liking where this was going.

"Okay." Alex replied as she turned to leave.

"Hey," Carlotta chased after her, "where you going girl?"

"To get some answers." Alex answered without turning around.

* * *

Alex sat in a coffee shop across from her father, wearing a black turtleneck and jeans, she unfolded her crossed arms to take a slow sip of her coffee, after a moment she placed the cup back on the table, "I'm going to ask you a question, and for once, I just need you to be straight with me."

Roland nodded and after a beat leaned in, elbows resting on his knees with his hands clasped together, "Alright."

"Did you-" Alex struggled to find the words, after all, this was crazy wasn't it? "Did you ever have sex with Mary Davis?"

Roland raise his eyebrows and learned back, offering only a shrug, "Who?"

"She was in a group called Mixed Harmony, back in the 90s." Alex pushed on.

"I don't know Alex" Roland replied, seeming tired with the conversation already.

"It's important." Alex pushed.

"Why?" Roland asked coldly, even though it was clear that he was no longer interested in entertaining the conversation.

"Because I might have a sister." Alex replied and Roland looked at her.

"You might have a lot of sisters." He replied nonchalantly, standing, "Are we done here?"

Alex got to her feet, "No, we're not done."

"What do you want from me?" He snapped. "Mary and I hooked up a couple times, we partied a bit, never heard from her after that."

"That's because she's dead." Alex snapped back.

"So what? I'm supposed to feel bad because some junkie overdosed and left her kid? I don't, and I'm not giving this kid money."

"It's not about the money," Alex breathed.

"It's always about the money." Roland replied,"You should know that by now," he pushed his sunglasses up further onto his face before walking away without another word. Alex shook her head in amazement of how he could be so selfish when her phone started to ring.

* * *

Alex entered the hospital, "Where are they?" She demanded of the people in the waiting room.

"Star's in there with her now," Carlotta replied as she moved towards Alex with open arms and guided her towards a seat.

"What happened?" Alex asked looking between the older women.

"She got into some pills." Cotton replied.

"Jesus." Alex muttered.

"Those girls are a mess." Cotton added and Carlotta shot her a glare as she moved towards the nurses station.

"I'm going to need your daughter full name please." The nurse told Carlotta gently.

Carlotta frowned, "Simone, Simone Brown."

"And how old is she?"

"Sixteen." Carlotta replied.

"Frequent drug use. Any history of psychiatric problems?"

"I don't think so, no."

The nurse looked up at Carlotta, "You don't think so?"

"She's a teenager." Carlotta snapped, "They all crazy."

The nurse frowned, "Well, we're trying to determine if this was an overdose or a suicide attempt."

"She has been waking up having nightmares." Carlotta offered, "Waking up screaming and stuff."

The nurse nodded and made some final notes, "I'll need to make a copy of your insurance card."

Carlotta fidgeted uncomfortably, "I uh, I don't have insurance right now."

The nurse raised her eyebrows, "The emergency room alone is going to cost over $5,000. Obamacare has some very affordable options for low-income families."

"Who said we were low-income?" Carlotta shot back as Cotton appeared at her side.

"Come on Mom." Cotton guided her mother back to her chair.

"How we gonna pay for this?" Carlotta asked, sinking down into her seat.

Alex frowned as she pulled out her cell phone and headed towards the parking lot, against her better judgement she dialled her fathers number.

"Go."

"Dad, I know what I said before but Simone is in the hospital. She overdosed and she's in the hospital."

"Who is Simone?"

"She's the girl I was telling you about." Alex replied sharply, dangerously close to loosing her patience.

"What did I tell you?"

"I know, I'm sorry," Alex replied as a rouge tear rolled down her cheeks, "trust me this is the last thing I want to be doing right now but can you just, please come down here."

"Come down there, and do what?"

"I don't know, pay for the hospital bill." Alex must have sounded desperate because her father sighed on the other end of the phone, "So you'll come?" Alex asked hopefully.

"I'm not coming down there" Roland replied begrudgingly, "I'll transfer you the money and that's it, text me how much you need."

Alex let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding in as she hung up the phone but a ball of anxiety formed in her stomach as she realized the next thing she had to do was have a conversation with Star.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own any characters or quotes from Star these are sole property of Lee Daniels and the writers/producers of the show.

I wanted to add a little background to what happened in the episode "Next of Kin" s. 1 ep. 3 to set up the story a bit more.

Let me know what you think and if you'd like to see this continued. Thanks :)

-Luna

* * *

Alex crept into the hospital room to see Star sitting by Simone's bedside, the younger girl was asleep while the older one had her head resting in her hands. "Hey," Alex greeted quietly. Star looked up, "How you doin?" Alex asked, but Star just shook her head unable, for once, to find her words, she looked up to the ceiling to hold back her tears. Alex crossed the distance between them sinking down into the chair beside Star, she reached over and slipped her hand into the blonde's hand giving it a gentle squeeze. "I know," Alex whispered, "I know." Alex wrapped one arm around Star's shoulders and the blonde woman reluctantly leaned into her friend.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Star allowed a tear to slip down her cheek. Alex rocked her gently for a moment until Star pulled away. "I'm good." Star wiped at her eyes and looked away embarrassed.

Alex swallowed the lump in her throat, she couldn't tell Star about her father and Simone's potential connection, not tonight. "When's she get out?" Alex asked instead.

"They wanna keep her here for 72 hours or something." Star replied, her usual spunk was gone and she just sounded tired. Alex nodded but said nothing. "You know, I worked so hard to _not_ be my _mother,_ and then she just goes and pulls this?"

"She needs help Star." Alex whispered.

"She needs _me._ " Star replied, "So I'm busting her outta here."

"What?" Alex frowned, "How you gonna do that?"

"I've got a plan." Star replied stubbornly.

Alex crossed her arms over her chest, "I don't think this is a good idea."

"Well thankfully for me you don't get a say." Star snapped, the words came out harsher than she intended but she really didn't care, all she cared about right now was getting Simone out of the hospital and into a recording studio.

Alex's frown deepened but she said nothing, because despite what she thought she might know, Star was right. Not about breaking Simone out of the hospital of course, that was completely insane, but that she didn't get a say. She had no right to roll up in here and drop this bomb on them.

"So you gonna help me or not?" Star asked giving Alex a once over.

Alex sighed, "What do you want me to do?"

"Get away driver?" Star offered with a small smirk.

* * *

Alex walked into the studio and gave the guys in the booth a nod before taking her place alongside Simone. She lifted the headphones to her ears and adjusted her hair, meanwhile, Simone snapped her fingers nervously. Alex reached over and gently tapped Simone's arm, giving her the thumbs up to confirm that the younger girl was in fact up for this. Simone nodded before glancing over at Star who gave her an encouraging smile and nod to check that her sister was good and Simone took a long exhale and nodded. The music started to play and the girls fell into their respective roles, the sessions lasted all of about a minute before the music cut off and the girls realized Carlotta was standing in the booth.

"Uh oh," Simone mouthed looking over at Alex while Star stormed into the booth. Alex just shook her hand and shrugged, not overly surprised that their escape plan had come to a quick halt. Simone looked upset.

"It's okay," Alex tried to reassure her but the words seemed to fall on deaf ears as Simone watched Star fly off the handle through the glass.

"What are you doing here?" Star snapped annoyed, "Why do you got to ruin every single thing I try to do?"

Carlotta scowled at her, "Your sister almost died last night, and you're worried about your career?"

Star felt the rage in her chest boil up as she fought the impulse to punch the older woman in the face, " _My_ sister is fine." Star snarled, unable to believe for one second that Carlotta could even think that this was about her career. It was about Simone. It was always about Simone and gettin' her focused on something else other than that pain that was threatening to eat her alive.

Star looked through the glass into to the studio, and stifled a sigh, "Simone, come in here." She motioned with a wave of her hand before looking back at Carlotta as Simone entered the booth with Alex trailing behind her. "She's fine. She wants to be here, and she wants to sing. _You_ can go." Star told Carlotta matter-o-factly.

"No, she doesn't. She wants to make you happy." Carlotta challenged the young woman.

Star eyed Carlotta a moment, she could feel how uncomfortable Simone was without even having to turn around, and she knew she had to change tactics, "You know what, this has nothing to do with Simone. This has to do with you and me because I look like my mother, I sound like my mother, and it kills you, because just like my mother I'm young and I'm sexy and I have more talent than you ever did."

"Bitch, you ain't your mother." Carlotta snapped, not interested one bit in Star's attitude problem, "I watched your mother die. And I'm not about to watch it again. Simone needs help."

"I know what Simone needs!" Star snapped, and she did, at least, she thought she did, because she had been where her sister was before. But before she had a chance to really dig into Carlotta about what either of them may or may not know, Simone jumped in.

"Stop, okay? I said stop! Stop talkin' 'bout me like I ain't even here!" Simone moved between the two women, "If I want to smoke weed, I'll smoke weed. And if I want to sing a damn song, I'll sing a damn song. And if I want to kill myself, I will!"

"Yo!" the producer jumped to his feet, "You know what? Too much drama. I'm out." He moved towards Alex and gave her a quick hug, "Hey, man, - tell your daddy I said hey."

"Thanks, Big." Alex managed to reply even thought she felt sick to her stomach.

"All right. Fo' sho." He nodded in the direction of the other girls, "Be safe."

"You happy?" Star muttered under her breath at Carlotta and Alex wasn't sure if she meant about the producer leaving or Simone's outburst.

Carlotta ignored Star, "Come on." she looked at Simone, "I'm driving you back to the hospital."

"No." Simone took a step back towards the door, looking for a moment as if she might run, "No, I don't want to go. I want to go home."

"Well you can't." Carlotta told her, "The hospital called looking for you. If you not back there in a half an hour, they calling the cops. Once they do that, I can't do nothin' to protect you. You going back into the system."

* * *

Back in the hospital, Carlotta sat by Simone's bedside, "So you ready to talk now? She asked, "I know you a runaway, and I know you got somebody in your head stirring up them nightmares. So what was they doing in your last home? Was it your foster mother?"

"No." Simone sniffled, wrapping her arms around herself, "She just let him do whatever he wanted."

"He beat her?" Carlotta asked.

Simone shrugged, "Sometimes."

"He hit you?" Carlotta pushed.

Simone swallowed the lump in her throat, "No." she grimaced, "He was real nice to me. He used to give me pot when she wasn't around. And he would keep me from school to have sex with me."

Carlotta frowned, "You ain't tell your foster mother?"

"No, she knew. And she liked it. She liked it!" A tear rolled down Simone's cheek, "'Cause the more he messed with me, the less he messed with her. So you want to know why I get high? That's why. Because I can't-" Simone fought back more tears but couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.

"It's okay. It's okay, baby." Carlotta reached over and put a comforting hand on Simone's leg. "Let me tell you something. That man he's never gonna hurt you again. I swear to God."

Alex lingered outside the doorway, upset by the confession she had just accidentally overheard when Star came up behind her, "Why you hoverin' out here?" she asked. Alex shook her head at how on point Star was, despite everything she had been through, Star never seemed to miss a beat.

"Just, giving them a minute." Alex replied truthfully.

Star screwed up her face in confusion, "It's all good, trust me, come on." she moved to enter the room.

"Um," Alex hesitated, "Actually, there's something I gotta do, I'll be back." and she without another word she turned and headed down the hall leaving a confused Star standing in the doorway of Simone's hospital room.


	3. Chapter 3

Alex moved through the hospital until she found a nurses station, "Uh hi," she said to the woman behind the counter, "Yeah, I need a blood test."

The nurse smiled kindly up at Alex, "You'll have to submit the paperwork." she pushed a clip board towards Alex, "Are you sick?"

"I - no-" Alex began uncertainly.

"Pregnant?"

"No" Alex stopped short, caught of guard by the question yet still somehow found herself counting back to her last cycle, "I mean, I don't think so,"

"Why do you need a blood test?" The nurse asked.

"I- I need to know if I'm related to someone." Alex felt more dumb by the moment.

"A paternity test?" The nurse sought to confirm her kind eyes search Alex's dark brown irises for an unspoken answer.

"No." Alex huffed in frustration.

"Honey, I'm gonna need a little more to go on if I can help you." The nurse said gently, clearly used to dealing with all types of people in all types of situations.

"My friend," Alex began, "I think, she might be my little sister, well, half sister." The nurse raised her eyebrows, "I know it sounds crazy," Alex rambled on, "and it probably is, but I just, I need to know."

"You should start by asking your parents." The nurse said with a concerned look.

"I did, my dad, he's not willing to take a paternity test." Alex admitted reluctantly.

"I see." The nurse replied, "Well, you would either need her parent or guardians consent, our hers if she's 16 or older."

"There's no way to do this without her knowing?" Alex asked already knowing the answer.

"Not without parental consent." the nurse confirmed.

Alex sighed, "Okay," she pushed the clip board back towards the nurse. "Thanks." She muttered as she slunk back towards Simone's hospital room feeling defeated.

"Hey!" Star called catching sight of Alex down the hall, "Where ya been?"

Alex sighed for what felt like the hundredth time, "Star, can we talk?"

Star eyed her careful, cocking her head slightly to the side, "Okay..."

Alex swallowed the lump in her throat, "I didn't want to spring this on you, but, if Simone could go back into the system..." Alex began.

"What are you talkin' about Alex?" Star snapped.

"Carlotta said-"

"Carlotta don't know what she's talking about. Simone ain't goin' no where." Star's voice was firm but a small amount of emotion cracked through.

"Could you get custody of her?" Alex asked hopefully.

Star looked away, "I can't."

"Why not?" Alex pushed.

Star turned back towards her annoyed, "Cause' I got a juvie record and you gotta have your own place and stuff, a real job," she raised her eyebrows, "I don't think singin' in contests counts."

"No, I know, it's just, what about Simone's dad?"

Stars annoyance quickly turned to angrer, "What about him?"

"Do you know who he is?" Alex asked.

Star's expression seemed to relax as she contemplated the question, a chewing her gum obnoxiously in a way that annoyed Alex, "Nah. Why?"

"I think... I think her dad might be my dad." Alex admitted.

"What?!" Star laughed, "You think your dad, Roland Crane, is also Simone's dad?" she continued to laugh as Alex just stood there, "Oh shit, you're serious?" Star raised her eyebrows and Alex nodded, "That's fucked up. Why would you even think that?"

Alex shrugged, "My dad was actin' weird when he came into the shop the other week, so I ask Carlotta about it and she said that him and Mary used to run in the same circles."

"When?" Star articulated the question clearly as if Alex was stupid.

"15, 16, years ago?" Alex offered.

"Are you serious right now?" Star's voice was fairly calm considering the words that were coming out of Alex's mouth.

"I asked him about it too, he admitted to partying with your mom, said they hooked a couple times and he never heard from her after that." Alex explained the whole story, "I asked him to come down here but he wouldn't."

"You told him about Simone?" Star asked.

"I told him what I thought might be the case, I don't know." Alex shrugged.

"Well we gotta find out." Star replied matter-o-factly.

Alex was surprised by her friends reaction, "He's not going to give us money Star."

"He might." Star replied not joking.

"He won't." Alex was serious, "And we won't produce our music either."

"You're tellin' me, that not one but _two_ of the people in our group are related to Roland Crane and he still ain't gonna produce one tiny song for us?" Star asked, only half joking.

"Probably not." Alex replied eyeing up Star, "You're taking this news awfully well."

Star looked sideways, "Why wouldn't I?" Alex shrugged, "Somebody's gotta be her father, might as well be a music icon. So what are we gonna do?" Star asked glancing into the room at Carlotta and Simone and then back to Alex.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"Look, Alex," Star leaned against the wall, "All Simone has ever wanted is a family. If Roland-"

"Do you see how he treats me?" Alex asked not believing the words coming out of Stars mouth, _"Me."_ She reiterated. "He doesn't want anything to do with me, let alone Simone."

"So why you telling me all this then Alex?" Star demanded.

"I just," Alex looked away, "I thought maybe, me and you, Miss Carlotta, maybe that be enough." Alex frowned, "And because I think she deserves to know. We both do."

Star shrugged, "Okay, so how do we find out for sure?"

"There's a blood test that siblings can take, it would tell us." Alex explained.

"Okay," Star replied, "Let's do it." She moved to reenter the room and Alex grabbed her arm. "What?" Star hissed.

"What if it's negative?" Alex asked.

"So?" Star replied, "Then nothin's changed, right?"

"How can you be so-so-"

"So what Alex?" Star asked her patience slipping, "Do you want me to fly off the handle every time shit hits the fan? In case you've forgotten, that's my life. Simone's either got your deadbeat dad or someone else's, frankly, having someone else looking out for her wouldn't be so bad."

"I told you he's not-"

"I don't mean him." Star locked eyes with Alex. Alex froze but after a moment nodded. "Okay then." Star tilted her head towards the room, "After you," Alex took a deep breath before walked slowly into the room, Star shoved her forward impatiently and Alex turned to glare at her as if to say, 'seriously.'

'Go' Star mouthed as Alex sank into a nearby chair.

"Simone," Star began, "Alex has somethin' she wants to say to you." Carlotta sat up straighter in her chair and Simone looked over at Alex confused. She looked so vulnerable in her hospital gown with her arms wrapped around her knees. Star sat down on the end of the bed and looked at Alex, "Alex?"

"I-" Alex began, slightly annoyed at Star's pushy behaviour, unsure of how to say this, unfortunately or fortunately, Star cut in.

"She thinks her daddy might also be your daddy." Star told Simone matter-o-factly.

"What?" Simone breathed looking at Alex, "How is this possible?"

"Hold up." Carlotta cut in, "That's a bit of a reach don't you think?"

"Not really," Alex replied, "I talked to my dad. Him and their mom, hooked up, right around the time Mary would have got pregnant with Simone."

"Well we don't know nothin' for sure yet." Carlotta replied.

"There's a test we can do." It was Star's turn to cut Carlotta off, "A blood test for Alex an' Simone."

Alex looked at Simone, "If you want."

"I do." Simone answered immediately sitting up straighter in the bed, before looking at Star who gave her a reassuring nod.

"Okay." Alex stood up, "Let's do it."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi all, from here I could end this and as far as i'm concerned, the show could continue exactly the same with this little twist. If you are interested in seeing me continue, please review and let me know.**

 **I don't own any of the characters or quotes from the show.**

* * *

Star sat cross legged on the end of the hospital bed. Carlotta had left and Alex had gone to give blood and fill out the paperwork. Star tapped her knee with her finger, eyeing up the bathroom. "You think we could turn that room into a studio?" Star asked. Simone shrugged as she traced shapes on the white sheets. "I should call Jahil, we still have time to make the submission deadline if we record here." Star looked up and snapped her fingers in front of Simone's face, "Hello?"

"Sorry," Simone replied still fiddling with the sheets, "It's just weird isn't it? You and Alex met randomly on the gram."

Star shrugged, "I guess, but the timelines make sense, and the music industry, people all know each other, they go to the same parties, they chill with the same people."

"I guess," Simone muttered.

"Hey, it might be nothin'" Star reminded her, "In fact it's probably nothin'."

"You think?" Simone asked, she didn't know if that made her feel relieved or upset.

Star shrugged, "Don't know. We'll find out though."

Simone looked up at her sister, "And you're cool with this?"

Star looked at Simone, "I don't know about her dad, you shouldn't get your hopes up about him, but Alex is good people, and we already practically family, so, yeah, I'm cool with it." Simone nodded, "Besides, it's a good way lock her in ain't it?"

Simone laugh in spite of herself, "Star!" she shoved the older blonde gently.

Star accepted the push, wondering how things would change. It seemed like it had always been her and Simone against the world. She pushed the thoughts out of her head, "Seriously though do you think it could work?"

Simone followed Stars gaze to the washroom, "Maybe," she replied, "We'd have to string the wires in through the room and we'd probably have to get it in one hit."

Star grinned, mischievously, "Done." she told her sister as she jumped off the bed, phone in hand to call Jahil.

* * *

"Alright," Jahil rubbed his hands together eagerly, smirking in spite of his blacked eye, "Let's do this."

Star nodded, giving Simone a nudge, "Come on now, get up." Simone seemed unsure but did as she was told, giving Alex a nervous glance as she came into the room eyeing up the current situation. Alex locked eyes with Star silently asking what was going on, "We on a 72 hour hold, so, we gonna work with what we got."

"We are _so_ about to get in trouble for this." Alex replied, moving towards the bathroom and grabbing the headphones off a nearby stool, she dusted them off carefully before adjusting them on her head. Jahil, handed Simone her headphones who reluctantly put them on, pushing her dark brown curls behind her shoulders. Star watched them both from where she stood on one side of the single microphone already prepared.

Alex adjusted the microphone slightly for Simone who took hold of it, "My friends say that I'm crazy -"

"You crazy, girl" Star and Alex harmonized together.

"'Cause I give you my love -"

"Ooh, ooh."

"But you my little sexy baby You do it to me good."

Alex tapped her foot softly to catch the beat "Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh."

Simone stepped back to allow Star space to take the lead and was distracted by a figure hovering outside the tapered glass and it made her stomach turn, "I like to have you all around both day and night" Star glanced over her shoulder to see the figure lurking in the hall, "I love the way you take me out to wine and dine."

Alex glared a the figure in the glass as she leaned in and grabbed the microphone, "They say I need to slow it down But I don't mind, 'cause they don't understand That I don't need no man, No, I don't need no man-" Simone tried to distract herself by bopping along to the sound of Alex's part of the song but Star put up her hand just before the harmony indicating to stop the music.

"Stop." Star told them moving towards the door.

"Star don't." Simone looked panicked.

"Stay here." Star instructed eyeing Simone and then Alex, "Both of you."

"No," the panic rose in Simone's voice and Alex became increasingly more concerned.

"Star-" Alex began.

"Do you want me to-" Jahil cut in.

"I got it." Star snapped as she left the room, ending the discussion.

"No, no, no no, no, no." Simone pulled off the headset and sunk down against the blue sea foam green tiles.

"I got Star," Jahil told Alex, "you take care of," he indicated at Simone, "whatever this is."

Alex walked over to Simone, "Simone, come on," she said gently, "it's okay," she offered but the words sounded detached because despite all the ups and downs in her own life, she had no idea how to comfort someone who had been through so much in just 16 years.

* * *

Star gave the hallway a once over, whoever had been snooping was no longer around, or had ducked into another room somewhere. She hadn't liked the way the figure leered, the outline of his body looked familiar and Star couldn't shake that look of panic on Simone's face, the confusion and anger in Alex's eyes. She clenched and unclenched her fists, willing the rage to pass through her.

Jahil appeared behind her, "Looking for someone?" he asked half jokingly. Star closed her eyes in an attempt to find some calm, her back still turned to Jahil. "Star?" his voice shifted to concern when she didn't turn around.

"I'm good." Star replied, "The creep took off."

"The creep?" Jahil asked confused.

Star turned to him annoyed, "You didn't see that dude creepin' up on us?"

"No," Jahil told her, "I was focused on you."

"Right," Star replied trying to remain calm but still ending up somewhere closer to pissed off.

"You ready to do this?" he asked knowing that the deadline was looming.

Star took one big calming breath before giving him a nod and a once over, "I was born ready."

* * *

Alex was sitting on the chair with her laptop working on some beats while Star and Simone sat on the bed. Star was just finishing pulling Simone's curls into two french braids. "I can't believe we just make a demo in this damn looney bin." Simone told them with a small smirk.

"Yeah well next time, try to not kill yourself and we won't have to." Star joked and Alex looked up from her laptop with a disapproving glare, but her look softened as she watched Star wrap an arm around Simone and pull her against her chest.

"I'm sorry." Simone whispered, looking ashamed.

"Don't scare me like that again, okay?" Star muttered into her ear, pressing a kiss to her temple. Simone nodded, feeling like she could stay in her big sisters arms forever but a small knock at the door, broke the moment as Simone sat up straighter.

The same nurse who Alex had been dealing with hours earlier stood in the doorway, "We had the results expedited." she explained.

"And?" Alex was the first to ask, putting her laptop down in anticipation.

"And," the nurse shook her head, "It looks like your hunch was right, you girls are related, on your fathers side." she looked between Alex and Simone for a beat before leaving the room.

The girls all looked between one another, all three unsure how to react now that this was real. Alex stood, "I guess I should tell my dad..."

"What? Girl, get over here!" Star told her as she opened her arms. Alex walked reluctantly over to the bed and Star pulled her into a hug with Simone squished in the middle.

After a minute the girls broke apart and Alex sat back on the bed, she looked at Simone sadly, and reached out to take her hand, "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you earlier, for both of you." Alex looked away, remembering the conversation she had overheard between Carlotta and Simone, when she looked back.

"It's okay." Simone squeezed her hand back, "You're here now." she told Alex sincerely.

Alex wiped a stay tear from her cheek.

"Aw, why you cryin'" Star teased, "It cause you stuck with us now?"

Alex laughed as she looked between them and pulled them into one more big hug.


End file.
